whats better: a free blog or your own paid site?

[maxgirlmax]

well, im thinking of putting up a new blog again. ^_^

but with regard tp monetizing the blog-- if ever i sign up for a free blog service like blogger or wordpress.. my URL usually says "randomtitle.wordpress.com" or "randomtitle.blogspot.com".. does wordpress or blogger/blogspot get any percentage of the profit with the ads you put up in your blog?

and if they do, would you recommend to me to buy a site instead? if yes, any host provider suggestions?

thanks.

[smittenbite]

no they dont get any percentage as far as i know with the ads. however, places like payperpost have lots of listings that say they dont allow blogspot blogs, or free blogs. so its just something else to keep in mind if youre thinking about making some money off that type of thing.

i think its better to just start with your own domain and hosting. you can get a dreamhost account for like 30 bucks if you use a promo code, and it comes with a free domain registration so youre set for a whole year. and have more than enough space or bandwidth for most situations

(edit)

this is from wordpress.com tos:

the Content is not spam, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);

"unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites." in my opinion, this includes paid links. might want to read the terms of service for yourself to check

[Jeremy]

Considering how inexpensive it is to register a domain name and find basic hosting, there really isn't any reason not to go with your own. Having your own domain and full control over your site allows for many possibilities in the future. There is nothing worse than realizing you have a decent site on a blogspot or wordpress domain and then have to switch. You have to deal with search engine issues, page rank, having readers follow, etc. If you have any indication that you might be doing it for a while, you might as well spend the equivalent of a few McDonald's combo meals to get a dedicated spot on the web.

[Bloggeries]

Wordpress! You can register for under $10 and host for under $5... If you aren't willing to fork that out... :)

You get total control over your content your account can't just get shut down or banned or anything else that is undesirable. Just go for wordpress and never look back. If its your first attempt at blogging play around with blogger but go serious witha domain and wordpress. That's my advice.

[ses5909]

Definitely host your own if you can afford it. As other's said, with coupon codes you can get dreamhost hosting really inexpensive for an entire year!

And Wordpress.com won't let you put ads on your blog. If you are considering ads you will want to host your own anyway so you have full control of your site and your stats. You'll be in a much better position to work with advertisers that way.

[goldfries]

Host them on a paid hosting if possible.

Sure you can make your blogspot or wordpress site huge then suddenly you decide to change host but by then - what about your linkbacks? Do think of them linkbacks.

If your blog is for casual purpose, ahh well then it's fine if you're hosting it on some place free. blablablalb.

[millzee11]

I would go with you own hosting and it will cost something like $3-6 per month and you can then setup wordpress or another blog platform and you never have to worry about the company deleting your blog etc.

[dojo]

I dislike anything that's free hosted. Don't know .. maybe I am getting picky. My blog is on a subdirectory, but on my paid domain, as a part of the site

[3plus3]

Ok, can someone break down their version of "inexpensive"? Exactly how much does it host to have my own domain?

[Jeremy]

You can host a domain for as little as a few dollars per month. I pay $3.99/month right now, and I even received my first 3 months free with a promo.